Labor

  • April 21, 2025

    Investors Seek Class Status On Equinix Capital Spend Claims

    A group of Equinix investors asked a California federal judge for class certification on their claims that the data center developer mislabeled spending on batteries, light bulbs and other maintenance expenses so two executives could collect bonuses of $150 million.

  • April 18, 2025

    Trump Moves For More Power To Hire, Fire Federal Workers

    The Office of Personnel Management on Friday proposed a rule that would give President Donald Trump's administration the power to hire and fire some 50,000 career federal employees, a move that federal worker unions say will allow the president "to replace qualified public servants with political cronies."

  • April 18, 2025

    Delay Over Trump's NLRB Picks Reflects Priorities, Caution

    Employers are growing anxious for President Donald Trump to stock the National Labor Relations Board with Republicans who will roll back union-friendly precedents, but the absence of nominees so far reflects the administration's policy priorities and the tough task of finding nominees who will pass the confirmation process, experts say.

  • April 18, 2025

    DC Circ. Revives Fired Workers' Bias Suit Over Vax Policy

    The D.C. Circuit on Friday revived claims by two Black employees of a union who allege they were disparately affected by a COVID-19 vaccination policy where more Black employees than white employees were fired if they didn't get vaccinated, saying their racial discrimination allegations regarding the policy "cross the line from conceivable to plausible."

  • April 18, 2025

    Unions Score Injunction To Stop DOGE's Access To SSA Data

    The Social Security Administration cannot give Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency access to personal data within the agency's system, a Maryland federal judge ruled, saying the government "cannot flout" federal privacy law while granting an injunction to unions and a retiree advocacy group.

  • April 18, 2025

    Calif. Forecast: Court Weighs $20M Raytheon Cos. Wage Deal

    In the coming week, attorneys should keep an eye out for potential initial approval of an almost $20 million class action settlement involving three Raytheon companies. Here's a look at that case and other labor and employment matters coming up in California.

  • April 18, 2025

    Union Hits Kroger Chain With Counterclaim In Strike Suit

    The Kroger-owned grocery chain King Soopers violated a poststrike agreement with a United Food & Commercial Workers local by pressuring the union to agree to a collective bargaining agreement by an arbitrary deadline, the union alleged in a counterclaim in the company's strike lawsuit against it in Colorado federal court.

  • April 18, 2025

    NY Forecast: Judge Hears Hospital's Bid To Nix Race Bias Suit

    In the coming week, a New York federal judge will consider a hospital's request to toss a suit brought by a doctor who claims she was discriminated against on the basis of her race and gender and retaliated against when she complained.

  • April 18, 2025

    CFPB Mass Layoffs Blocked Again In DC Court

    A D.C. federal judge once again halted the layoffs of more than 1,000 employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, saying at an emergency hearing Friday morning that she needed a full record to determine whether the firings complied with a D.C. Circuit order from last week.

  • April 17, 2025

    NY Judge Scrubs Groups' Anti-Congestion-Pricing Claims

    A Manhattan federal judge on Thursday rejected claims from local residents and community groups alleging New York's revised congestion pricing tolls wrongfully discriminated against out-of-state commuters and unfairly benefited public transit riders instead of roadway users.

  • April 17, 2025

    DC Circ. Says Lateness Doomed Starbucks' NLRB Challenge

    The National Labor Relations Board was not obligated to accommodate Starbucks after its attorney filed a challenge to a board judge's ruling 23 minutes late, the D.C. Circuit ruled Thursday, holding that the board did not abuse its discretion by refusing to process the challenge.

  • April 17, 2025

    Minn. Gig Driver Union Bills Raise Employee Status Concerns

    Labor advocates in Minnesota are pushing to give ride-hailing drivers in the state collective bargaining rights in bills modeled after a successful ballot measure in Massachusetts, despite lingering concerns from some advocates that such proposals do not do enough to address the core issue of drivers' employment status.

  • April 17, 2025

    Tenet Asks Court To Enforce Dead Arbitrator's $546K Award

    Tenet Healthcare Corp. has asked a Washington, D.C., federal judge to require the Service Employees International Union to follow an arbitrator's final order to pay $546,000 after making derogatory statements, despite the arbitrator dying before ruling on the union's post-judgment reconsideration motion.

  • April 17, 2025

    AFL-CIO, Unions Can Pursue Some DOGE Access Claims

    The AFL-CIO, unions and advocacy groups may pursue allegations that Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency lacks the power to access data from the U.S. Department of Labor and other federal agencies, a D.C. federal judge ruled while tossing some claims under federal administrative and privacy law.

  • April 17, 2025

    Starbucks Dodged Union On Dress Code, NLRB Judge Says

    Starbucks violated federal labor law by punishing workers for wearing union T-shirts at a store in Jacksonville, Florida, without negotiating with their union first, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, finding the discipline wasn't in line with the company's typical dress code policy enforcement.

  • April 17, 2025

    Littler Hires 5th DC Labor Atty From Akin In 4 Months

    Littler Mendelson PC has hired another member of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP's Washington, D.C., labor team, the fifth attorney from that group to move in the past four months, who helped represent the Pac-12 college football conference alongside several former colleagues he's now rejoining.

  • April 17, 2025

    NYC Strikes Deal To End Housing Workers' OT Suit

    New York City struck a deal to resolve a housing development worker's collective action accusing it of running afoul of the Fair Labor Standards Act by stiffing city employees on overtime wages, a federal court filing said.

  • April 16, 2025

    Unions Want 'Unlawful' Mediation Service Layoffs Blocked

    A coalition of unions on Wednesday asked a New York federal judge to order the Trump administration to immediately stop dismantling the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service while the unions challenge the layoffs at the agency in court, calling them "unlawful and unconstitutional."

  • April 16, 2025

    Southwest Moves Union's Sick Leave Fight To Federal Court

    Southwest Airlines has moved a union lawsuit challenging its sick leave settlement with the state of Colorado to federal court, after the union amended its complaint to add a proposed class of flight attendants also challenging the deal.

  • April 16, 2025

    NLRB Prosecutors Pull Several More Challenges To Case Law

    National Labor Relations Board prosecutors are no longer looking to overturn four employer-friendly rulings that they'd sought to ax under President Joe Biden-era general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, the prosecutors told the board Wednesday in a case that pits the agency against Starbucks.

  • April 16, 2025

    Union Denied More Time In Feds' Bid To Bless CBA Rebuke

    A Kentucky federal judge has refused to delay an approaching hearing on the U.S. Department of the Treasury's bid to nullify its workers' union contracts, despite a union's assertion that it's been given little time to prepare for a consequential case and that it has yet to be served.

  • April 16, 2025

    Orgs. Sue DOL Over Termination Of Int'l Labor Rights Projects

    Three nonprofits have filed suit in D.C. federal court to have the U.S. Department of Labor reinstate cooperative agreements aimed at supporting workers' rights programs abroad, claiming that the department, at the direction of the Department of Government Efficiency, terminated the agreements based on "policy disagreement."

  • April 16, 2025

    Coalition Offers Free Legal Aid To Fired Federal Workers

    A coalition of organizations, including unions like the AFL-CIO and nonprofits like the nonpartisan legal volunteering network We the Action, has teamed up to connect the thousands of federal employees fired under the Trump Administration with free legal support, calling on lawyers across the U.S. to join their efforts.

  • April 16, 2025

    Starbucks Seeks Ax Of Board Ruling On Union Decert. Votes

    The National Labor Relations Board should rethink legal precedent that allows board officials to refuse to schedule union decertification elections at workplaces that stand accused of certain labor law violations, Starbucks told the board, asking it to overrule a 2022 decision.

  • April 16, 2025

    Pa. Judge Cuts Atty Fees To $950K In ERISA Deal Final OK

    A federal judge in Pennsylvania has ruled that counsel representing two union elevator industry workers should be awarded $950,000 in legal fees, down from the attorneys' initial request of $1.7 million for settling a nearly 30,000-member class action over the management of a union 401(k) plan.

Expert Analysis

  • NCAA Rulings Signal Game Change For Athlete Classification

    Author Photo

    A Tennessee federal court's recent decision in Pavia v. NCAA adds to a growing call to consider classifying college athletes as employees under federal law, a change that would have unexpected, potentially prohibitive costs for schools, says J.R. Webster Cucovatz at Gilson Daub.

  • How DOGE's Severance Plan May Affect Federal Employees

    Author Photo

    President Donald Trump's administration, working through the Department of Government Efficiency, recently offered a severance package to nearly all of the roughly 2 million federal employees, but unanswered questions about the offer, coupled with several added protections for government workers, led to fewer accepted offers than expected, says Aaron Peskin at Kang Haggerty.

  • Rethinking 'No Comment' For Clients Facing Public Crises

    Author Photo

    “No comment” is no longer a cost-free or even a viable public communications strategy for companies in crisis, and counsel must tailor their guidance based on a variety of competing factors to help clients emerge successfully, says Robert Bowers at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Axed ALJ Removal Protections Mark Big Shift For NLRB

    Author Photo

    A D.C. federal court's recent decision in VHS Acquisition Subsidiary No. 7 v. National Labor Relations Board removed long-standing tenure protections for administrative law judges by finding they must be removable at will by the NLRB, marking a significant shift in the agency's ability to prosecute and adjudicate cases, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • The Future Of ALJs At NLRB And DOL Post-Jarkesy

    Author Photo

    In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024 Jarkesy ruling, several ongoing challenges to the constitutionality of the U.S. Department of Labor's and the National Labor Relations Board's administrative law judges have the potential to significantly shape the future of administrative tribunals, say attorneys at Wiley Rein.

  • Water Cooler Talk: 'Harry Potter' Reveals Magic Of Feedback

    Author Photo

    Troutman Pepper's Tracey Diamond and Emily Schifter chat with Wicker Park Group partner Tara Weintritt about various feedback methods used by "Harry Potter" characters — from Snape's sharp and cutting remarks to Dumbledore's lack of specificity and Hermione's poor delivery — and explore how clear, consistent and actionable feedback can transform workplaces.

  • What To Expect From Trump's Deputy Labor Secretary Pick

    Author Photo

    President Donald Trump's nominee for deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor, Keith Sonderling, has a track record of prioritizing clear guidance on both traditional and cutting-edge issues, which can provide insight into what employers can expect from his leadership, say attorneys at Littler.

  • A Look At Order Ending Federal Contractor Affirmative Action

    Author Photo

    To comply with President Donald Trump's executive order revoking affirmative action requirements in the next 90 days, federal contractors should focus on identification of protected groups, responsibilities of "diversity officer" positions and annual compliance reviews, says Jeremy Burkhart at Holland & Knight.

  • The Implications Of E-Cigarette Cos. Taking Suits To 5th Circ.

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. R.J. Reynolds over the definition of an "adversely affected" person under the Tobacco Control Act, and the justices' ruling will have important and potentially wide-ranging implications for forum shopping claims, says Trillium Chang at Zuckerman Spaeder.

  • 4 Employment Law Areas Set To Change Under Trump

    Author Photo

    President Donald Trump's second term is expected to bring significant changes to the U.S. employment law landscape, including the potential for updated worker classification regulations, and challenges to diversity, equity and inclusion that are already taking shape, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • 8 Lessons Yellow Corp. Layoffs Can Teach Distressed Cos.

    Author Photo

    A Delaware bankruptcy court’s recent decision, examining trucking company Yellow Corp.’s abrupt termination of roughly 25,500 employees, offers financially distressed businesses a road map for navigating layoffs under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • 10 Key Worker-Friendly California Employment Law Updates

    Author Photo

    New employment laws in California expand employee rights, transparency and enforcement mechanisms, and failing to educate department managers on these changes could put employers at risk, says Melanie Ronen at Stradley Ronon.

  • 7 Employment Contracts Issues Facing DOL Scrutiny

    Author Photo

    A growing trend of U.S. Department of Labor enforcement against employment practices that limit workers' rights and avoid legal responsibility shines a light on seven unique contractual provisions that violate federal labor laws, and face agressive litigation from the labor solicitor, says Thomas Starks at Freeman Mathis.

Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Employment Authority Labor archive.